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ellakwatson's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 3/5
Ok. This book created in my the most mixed and complicated feelings I’ve had reading in a long time. Because did I love it and really enjoy reading it? No. But did it elicit a crap ton of emotion? YES. This book made me SO ANGRY. I contemplated throwing my book several times due to how angry I was at the characters. And I must respect Cyn Balog for that because very rarely have I felt that angry or that strongly at all while reading a book. If I was eating purely based on enjoyment, I’d give it 1-2 star. But, if I was rating based on the emotion it made me feel, I’d give it 4-5. So, we’re settling on 3. Therefore, while I would not recommend it or reread it, I have to respect it.
Ok. This book created in my the most mixed and complicated feelings I’ve had reading in a long time. Because did I love it and really enjoy reading it? No. But did it elicit a crap ton of emotion? YES. This book made me SO ANGRY. I contemplated throwing my book several times due to how angry I was at the characters. And I must respect Cyn Balog for that because very rarely have I felt that angry or that strongly at all while reading a book. If I was eating purely based on enjoyment, I’d give it 1-2 star. But, if I was rating based on the emotion it made me feel, I’d give it 4-5. So, we’re settling on 3. Therefore, while I would not recommend it or reread it, I have to respect it.
whatthe_didijustread's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think a problem for my reading of this book is that it was presented to me as a thriller; the vibe is very much more in line with a CW-type teen drama, 13 Reasons Why-esque story until the last 20 ish pages (which unfortunately did nothing to change my opinion on the above).
The dual timeline worked insofar as it kept me reading/wanting to know how (1) Hailey's past where she's falling in love with Declan and her friendships with Kane + the (unmemorable-except-for-how-much-girlhate-there-was) girls Hailey hung out with are strong and (2) Hailey's present as a deeply depressed, presumed psychotic girl with no friends, marry together. However, in neither timeline was there any sense of urgency, of a building darkness in The Past that could inform the present or of a looming darkness in The Present that is contextualized by the past, which I consider a staple of the thriller genre. Nor was there any active threat to Hailey in the absence of a less defined mood of tension. There's some mystery implied given Hailey's amnesia about the day of Declan's death, but not nearly enough to warrant the plot hinging on the fact that she killed him in a jealous rage thinking he was his new girlfriend , which the whole plot hinged on. Since it WAS the lynchpin of the mystery, I'd have expected there to be at least a tad more weight placed behind that, and not,,, Hailey kind of being terrible to be around.
And she was terrible to be around, both in the present and past timelines! That was the nail in the coffin for me as a reader, personally. It made some sense in the present, where her ennui and lethargy can be explained by her depression, but in the past she is just as uninteresting, lowkey misogynistic, and hyperfocused on a boy who is, frankly, far too good for her (truly boggles the mind that anyone liked her in any way at any point). I'd be fine if she was just unlikeable. The killer is that she was boring. Mainly I read on to see how her terrible but at least somewhat interesting friends would get on.
There were some interesting ideas brought up re: the ways that perfect-on-the-outside people are just as flawed as everyone else, and the ways that religiousness can be either part of that veneer or the cause of a pressure that makes the veneer crack, but given the marketing of the story, I expected less introspection and more dynamism to carry the plot. And it seemed, given the ending, that the author intended for that to be the case and for the book to be a thriller and not a literary fiction piece pontificating about grief in the youth, so I feel justified in wanting and expecting that! I still had fun with this book, but in a vague sort of way which I don't think I'll be returning to.
The dual timeline worked insofar as it kept me reading/wanting to know how (1) Hailey's past where she's falling in love with Declan and her friendships with Kane + the (unmemorable-except-for-how-much-girlhate-there-was) girls Hailey hung out with are strong and (2) Hailey's present as a deeply depressed, presumed psychotic girl with no friends, marry together. However, in neither timeline was there any sense of urgency, of a building darkness in The Past that could inform the present or of a looming darkness in The Present that is contextualized by the past, which I consider a staple of the thriller genre. Nor was there any active threat to Hailey in the absence of a less defined mood of tension. There's some mystery implied given Hailey's amnesia about the day of Declan's death, but not nearly enough to warrant
And she was terrible to be around, both in the present and past timelines! That was the nail in the coffin for me as a reader, personally. It made some sense in the present, where her ennui and lethargy can be explained by her depression, but in the past she is just as uninteresting, lowkey misogynistic, and hyperfocused on a boy who is, frankly, far too good for her (truly boggles the mind that anyone liked her in any way at any point). I'd be fine if she was just unlikeable. The killer is that she was boring. Mainly I read on to see how her terrible but at least somewhat interesting friends would get on.
There were some interesting ideas brought up re: the ways that perfect-on-the-outside people are just as flawed as everyone else, and the ways that religiousness can be either part of that veneer or the cause of a pressure that makes the veneer crack, but given the marketing of the story, I expected less introspection and more dynamism to carry the plot. And it seemed, given the ending, that the author intended for that to be the case and for the book to be a thriller and not a literary fiction piece pontificating about grief in the youth, so I feel justified in wanting and expecting that! I still had fun with this book, but in a vague sort of way which I don't think I'll be returning to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Mental illness
Moderate: Misogyny and Murder
rozalyn_lethe's review against another edition
2.0
May contain spoilers *******
I definitely have several thoughts on this book overall I can only really give it 3 stars because I found it to be a pretty predictable and be the pacing to me was unbelievably slow well the story and the plot of this was all ok that's really all it was for me was just ok all of the characters for just ok to me pretty much everything in this book again, it's just ok I felt the ending wasnt great, I kind of dont like how it just sums it up with "I'm living with knowing that I killed my boyfriend now and I'm doing ok" was kind of strange to me overall I think if this book was really short and down I would have got a lot more enjoyment out of it instead of almost 300 pages of absolutely nothing happening as she very slowly finds out that she's the one who killed her boyfriend.
Just as my last thought, I didn't hate everything about this book. I'm definitely not saying that, I did enjoy the writing and some of the characters were OK, but that's probably my final rating, 3 out of 5 stars.
I definitely have several thoughts on this book overall I can only really give it 3 stars because I found it to be a pretty predictable and be the pacing to me was unbelievably slow well the story and the plot of this was all ok that's really all it was for me was just ok all of the characters for just ok to me pretty much everything in this book again, it's just ok I felt the ending wasnt great, I kind of dont like how it just sums it up with "I'm living with knowing that I killed my boyfriend now and I'm doing ok" was kind of strange to me overall I think if this book was really short and down I would have got a lot more enjoyment out of it instead of almost 300 pages of absolutely nothing happening as she very slowly finds out that she's the one who killed her boyfriend.
Just as my last thought, I didn't hate everything about this book. I'm definitely not saying that, I did enjoy the writing and some of the characters were OK, but that's probably my final rating, 3 out of 5 stars.
megdeck's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Sexual content
hitbooksnotgirlz's review against another edition
5.0
What a great read!!! It was a hundred times more riveting than I thought it would be, and had so many elements that I love to see in a YA novel. The final outcome was absolutely shocking.
jassantiagooo's review against another edition
3.0
considering I got this book at dollar tree it was a slay